Lion conflict plan introduced

Mitigating measures to reduce the escalating conflict between humans and lions which led to the illegal killing of at least 19 lions this year, have been introduced. The comprehensive Human-Lion Management Plan for northwest Namibia was officially launched last week and aims to eliminate and reduce conflict between lions and humans. A total of 25 lions have been killed this year in Namibia of which 19 were killed illegally and the rest shot by ministry officials or a professional hunter, according to recent statistics from the tourism ministry. With more than 120 lions in the northwest of Namibia, the desert-adapted lion population is considered sustainable, but if the current human-lion conflict situation continues the population may be at risk. Deputy environment minister Tommy Nambahu said as much as lions are occasionally involved in conflict with livestock farmers and cause economic losses, they are important to the growing tourism industry and there is an urgent need to manage conflict in the region. “In response to the growing human-lion conflict experienced in Kunene Region in 2016 at the peak of the worse drought, the ministry decided to develop an area-specific conflict management plan to reduce the conflict.” According to the conflict plan, the conservancies that share land with the desert lion population recorded 5 863 incidents of livestock attacks caused by lions and other carnivores between 2003 and 2015. On average 451 incidents were recorded per year with Sesfontein Conservancy recording the highest number of attacks (2 293) followed by the Annbeb (1 393), Torra (1 303) and Purros Conservancies (873). Between 2005 and 2015, a total of 343 incidents of human-lion conflict were recorded by the conservancies at an average of 32 incidents per year. A total of 37 lions were destroyed between 2005 and 2015. Torra Conservancy reported the highest number of lions destroyed during human lion conflict (18) followed by the Sesfontein (9), Anabeb and Puros Conservancies (3). According to the report, the number of lions destroyed increased dramatically between 2013 and 2015 when 27 of the 37 lions (73%) were killed. During the same period the conservancies only recorded 36% of the total recorded human-lion incidents and 26% of the recorded attacks on livestock. Dr Phillip Stander founder of the Desert Lion Conservation Project says the increased conflict between human and lions over the years has become a serious problem in Namibia and an urgent solution is needed. According to him, human-lion conflict and the related shooting or poisoning of lions is the main limiting factor of the population. This amounts to 89% of all sub-adult mortalities.According to the report the regularity, especially since 2004, at which male lions were shot, poisoned or hunted, coupled with the selection of adult males for trophy hunting, has resulted in a significant reduction of the population.“This excessive killing of adult and sub-adult males has compromised the long-term viability of the desert-adapted lion population and there is an urgent need to adapt management and utilisation strategies relating to lions, if the long-term conservation of the species in the Kunene is to be secured.” Stander says currently there are there are only five adult males and 27 adult females. According to the report, seven of the nine major prides are without a pride male.“If this continues it will cause a social problem in the lion population,” said Stander.Conflict between lions and people occurs essentially all along the eastern edge of the distribution of the lion population. However, the long-term data collected on lion movements indicates that there are particular hotspots where incidents of human-lion conflict occur repeatedly. Based on monitoring data collected since 2000 a total of 10 hotspots were identified where lions have regularly been attracted to settlements and livestock. There are two in Purros Conservancy, three in Sesfontein, two in Anabeb and three in Torra. These hotspots can be managed effectively to reduce human-lion conflict. Livestock forms only a small portion of the prey that a lion takes and is not important for the animal to survive. Oryx is the most important prey species for lion, along with zebra, ostrich and springbok, forming 75% of their diet.Mitigating measures The management plan says local wildlife management units should be carried out at local level and land use planning as a means to reduce conflict between lions and humans should be introduced. As part of zoning the area for different land uses, such as exclusive wildlife and tourism zones, they should also identify wildlife corridors. Establishing a high-risk lion corridor that includes all the hotspots and implementing stringent management protocols supplemented by various techniques to deter lions within the corridor will effectively reduce human-lion conflict. The report further says most conflict situations arise from livestock management practices that leave animals vulnerable such as leaving animals unattended during the day and roaming freely at night. The four conservancies have however expressed their reluctance and disagreement to keep livestock inside protective kraals at night as they prefer to allow livestock also feed at night due to the low rainfall in the area. “The protection of livestock at night is paramount to the implementation and success of the plan.”Furthermore the human-lion conflict plan says livestock should be herded and guarded, livestock should be kept in lion-proof kraals overnight and early-warning systems and scare tactics must be introduced. Some include the use of fireworks to scare lions away and in recent years, lions have successfully been deterred from approaching human settlements by playing modern music or recordings of human voices, especially stand-up comedy shows with female or high pitched male voices at high amplitude. Other scare tactics are to chase off lions with vehicles, but it is important ot note that lions can distinguish between different types of vehicles based on engine type, appearance and even the manner in which they are driven. Also, the self-insurance schemes introduced through the National Policy on Human Wildlife Management in Namibia will be used to off-set losses suffered as a result of lion conflict. Research and monitoring will also be undertaken in managing human-lion conflict in the northwest of Namibia, while rapid response units are also to be created to respond on time to conflict situations. ELLANIE SMIT

Lion conflict plan introduced

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Namibian Sun 2025-08-29

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Lion conflict plan introduced

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Namibian Sun 2025-08-29

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